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Monday, 2 December 2013

Chelsea and City lead pursuit of Arsenal

Chelsea and City lead pursuit of Arsenal

Last Updated: Monday, December 02, 2013, 09:14

London:
Chelsea and Manchester City offered compelling evidence that they will
lead the pursuit of leaders Arsenal and champions Manchester United lost
further ground on a Sunday that brought the third managerial casualty
of the Premier League season.

Jose Mourinho`s Chelsea recovered
from conceding a goal after 13 seconds at home to Southampton, scoring
three times in the second half to win 3-1 and close the gap on Arsenal
to four points with a third of the season gone.

Free-scoring Man
City are third, two points further adrift, after spanking Swansea City
3-0 to take their home goal tally to 16 in their last three games.

Wayne
Rooney equalised twice for United in a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur
which left them nine points off the pace and Liverpool, who began the
day in second, endured a miserable afternoon, going down 3-1 at Hull
City and hearing that striker Daniel Sturridge will be out for around
eight weeks.

Struggling Fulham predictably sacked Martin Jol and
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas, himself in the media spotlight
after his team`s faltering form, showed the strain with a rant at his
post-match news conference.

For the third time this season in the
top flight a goal went in after 13 seconds with Jay Rodriguez taking
advantage of a Michael Essien error to give Southampton a shock lead at
Chelsea.

There was little evidence in the opening half that
Chelsea could avoid a first ever home league defeat under Mourinho but
they overwhelmed high-flying Southampton after the break.

Defender Gary Cahill equalised on 55 minutes after John Terry`s header had been diverted against the post.

Seven
minutes later Terry celebrated his 400th Premier League appearance with
a towering header before striker Demba Ba rounded off the victory with a
late third.

"In this crazy league this result is important as once again title contenders have dropped points," Mourinho said.

City
were not quite as rampant as they were in a 7-0 win over Norwich and a
6-0 drubbing of Tottenham last week but they were too strong for a
Swansea side missing leading strikers Michu and Wilfried Bony.

Alvaro
Negredo curled in an eighth-minute free kick to give City the lead,
although they had to wait until the second half to secure the points
through Nasri`s brace.

"I`m pleased because we won against a very
difficult team, especially when they had possession," City boss Manuel
Pellegrini said.

"We didn`t play very well in the first half but in the second we scored two goals and had more chances."

City`s
task is to emulate their home form on the road where they have been
woeful, starting at West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday when Chelsea go to
Sunderland and Arsenal host Hull.

VERBAL SPAT

Under
pressure Spurs boss Villas-Boas accused reporters of having an agenda
against after his side`s draw with United, a verbal spat that
overshadowed an improved showing by his side after their humiliation at
Man City.

Kyle Walker fired Spurs in front after 18 minutes with a
free kick that went under United`s four-man wall but Rooney showcased
his poacher`s instinct to level after 32 following a dreadful mistake by
Walker.

Sandro`s thunderbolt restored Tottenham`s lead after the
break but when Hugo Lloris was adjudged to have brought down Danny
Welbeck in the area Rooney strode up to thump his side level with his
eighth league goal of the campaign.

Even so, United manager David Moyes said he was concerned that the gap to Arsenal was growing.

"It`s
a busy period coming up and we want to be on the shirt tails of (the
leading teams) going into the end of the year, and at the start of next
year," Moyes said.

"Undoubtedly Arsenal have been very consistent
and they have got off to a great start but there will be a lot of teams
now looking to chase them down and hopefully we are one of them."

Villas-Boas,
whose side remained ninth but only three points off the top four,
praised his side but spent most of his news conference arguing with a
journalist.

"People insult by integrity, my
human values, my professionalism and one of these people is sitting
here," said the Portuguese who was apparently also riled by former
chairman and host of TV show "The Apprentice" Alan Sugar`s midweek
Twitter comments saying Spurs should hire Alex Ferguson as manager.

Hull,
who had never beaten Liverpool, opened the scoring on 20 minutes thanks
to a huge slice of good fortune, Jake Livermore`s shot from distance
cannoning off the boot of Martin Skrtel and looping over keeper Simon
Mignolet.

Liverpool levelled thanks to a curling free kick from
Steven Gerrard but their lacklustre performance was punished in the
second half when David Meyler latched on to a loose ball and buried it
into the bottom corner.

Skrtel deflected in a Tom Huddlestone shot with three minutes remaining to wrap up the points for Hull.
Reuters ------------------ ZEENEWS.com